Romania and FAO
Partnering to boost agriculture and capacity development
Cooperation between Romania and FAO began in 1961 and has since continued to grow, with Romania providing sustained support to the achievement of FAO’s Strategic Objectives. In recent years, their partnership has focused on supporting small family farms and giving greater recognition to their role in ensuring the country’s food supply as well as Romania’s contribution as a donor in the achievement of FAO’s main objectives.
Technical assistance to the Republic of Moldova during its first General Agriculture Census
Romania provided technical and financial support to an FAO project in Moldova on the validation and dissemination of data from the country’s first General Agricultural Census. The recently completed project resulted in reliable, up-to-date and internationally comparable data on agriculture for planning and
evaluation. The census itself established a database which will serve as foundation for a sound system of periodic collection of agriculture statistics, comparable at the international level, especially the European Union (EU).
The project has greatly enhanced the capacity of the country’s National Bureau of Statistics to collect, analyze and disseminate key statistical information on the agricultural sector, and has strengthened coordination between the Bureau and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. The FAO team working on the census with the Moldovan counterparts included a number of Romanian experts whose technical inputs were invaluable for completion of the tasks. The census data, now being released, will enhance evidence-based policy making in the agricultural sector.
Moldova is now aiming to establish an integrated system of agricultural surveys for timely production and dissemination of accurate food security and agricultural statistics.
COntACt
Vladimir Rakhmanin
ADG/Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia 34 Benczur utca
H-1068 Budapest, Hungry Tel.: +36 1 4612000
E-mail: [email protected]
Hosting the twenty-ninth FAO European Regional Conference
The twenty-ninth FAO European Regional Conference (ERC) and the thirty-eighth session of the European Commission on Agriculture (ECA) “Conference Week” were held in Romania in April 2014. Recognizing the coexistence in the region of large-scale mechanized farming alongside more traditional family farms, the FAO Regional Conference held in Bucharest endorsed two overarching initiatives for FAO to pursue in 2014-15: strengthening family farms and smallholder agriculture, and improving agri-food trade and regional trade integration.
Other major areas of work in the region include: controlling agricultural pests and diseases and food safety hazards, managing natural resources including fisheries and forests, coping with climate change, conserving plant and animal genetic resources. The Conference was attended by 145 delegates, representing 46 Member Countries and the EU.
According to the tradition, Romania, as host country, established a special trust fund totalling US$75 000 to finance participation of 15 Member Countries in the region which would have otherwise had difficulty sending delegates.
Cooperating to save Black Sea fish stocks
Fishing fleets from the half-dozen countries bordering the Black Sea have reaped nutritional and economic benefits from this rich resource for centuries. Today, with some fish stocks on the verge of collapse, the countries have agreed to cooperate on a major new programme to bring the latest science-based approaches to fisheries management in the Black Sea.
The six countries involved in the Black Sea Fish project include: Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. The intervention is designed to boost scientific and technical cooperation and knowledge of marine resources in the Black Sea. High-value, migrating stocks of anchovy, turbot and other species are the focus
of the project. 8/2015
©FAO/Nemanja Knezevic
Preparatory work by national consultants from the six countries, country visits, and a jointly elaborated concept note and framework document – agreed by the countries at a workshop in Budapest in 2013 – all were part of the lead-up to approving the final document in late 2014.
Scientific cooperation, fish stock assessment, development of statistical databases, work on safety at sea,
environmentally friendly fishing and better long-term returns for the fishing fleets are foreseen under the project.
Advancing early warning capabilities for food safety
Consumption of unsafe food is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.
The potential for food safety hazards to cross borders and continents has increased with globalization, and with the growth of international trade in food and feed commodities. A workshop organized by FAO aims to raise awareness of the approaches currently available for preventing food safety incidents, prepare the region to respond effectively to food safety emergencies, and support risk management decision making.
Food safety professionals from several European countries, including Romania, will work alongside representatives of three EU institutions – the European Food Safety Authority, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control – to test and provide feedback on a new handbook developed by FAO’s Emergency Prevention System for Food Safety.
Both the workshop and the handbook are part of a larger effort by FAO to establish national early warning systems for food safety. The goal of a national early warning system is to detect signals of food safety hazards early, and stop incidents before they get out of control.
“FAO’s work can only be really successful, in the field or in the global setting, when field activities and global public goods are connected and mutually enriching complements.”
José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General
Spurring agricultural development and supporting small-scale farmers
The 2007 enlargement of the EU saw Romania join the EU on 1 January of that year. Romania was the first country of post- communist Europe to have official relations with the European Community. A predominantly agrarian country, Romania also has a long standing collaboration with FAO. Between 2001 and 2007, FAO assisted Romanian agriculture through ten Technical Cooperation Programmes, with a total value of over US$4.25 million. In recent years, FAO’s focus in the country has concentrated on programmes at either national or regional level, which amount to US$2.65 million. In 2010, the Government signed its first ever contribution agreement with FAO, putting its past as a recipient country behind it, and undertaking to provide neighbouring Republic of Moldova with significant financial assistance.
Supporting small-scale farmers
Small-scale farmers are the cornerstone of Romanian farming, accounting for 79 percent of national agricultural production.
During the International Year of Family Farming, Romania restated its commitment to place farmers in the centre of the country’s agricultural policy by announcing a slate of new measures to support family farms through 2020. Under the country’s National Rural Development Programme, family farmers will have access to new funds that will help them modernize their tools and equipment, gain access to new markets and develop alternative forms of rural income like agro-tourism.
Boosting trade in agri-food products
Food safety risk communication is a key tool in managing food safety emergencies and crises and other food safety issues with potential for adverse effects on health, economy or trade.
Safeguarding public health, protecting the environment and boosting trade in agri-food products are three good reasons to study food safety risk communication. In 2014, to respond to demand from member countries, FAO teamed up with partners to develop a training package and handbook on the subject, and hosted a four-day pilot training workshop at its Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. FAO, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and ten risk communication specialists from multiple sectors, and with financing from the United States Food and Drug Administration, produced the comprehensive, user-friendly handbook on “Risk Communication applied to Food Safety.” The 35 workshop participants hailed from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Netherlands, Spain, Tajikistan, Turkey and Ukraine, and included public policy makers, specialists in agri- food, public health and food control.
